“This is just grand,” I muttered, uprooting a glowing vibrant green plant and dropping it unceremoniously into a pit, where many other shoots and growths like it lay. It left a foul, bitter taste in my mouth, one which I had grown to get used to over the course of the half-hour we’d been working.

“Yeah, suck it up,” Cam grumbled, grabbing two pitch-black growths and pulling them out of the soft earth. She was lucky in the fact that she had paws in which she could grasp the plants. She would place her paws around the stems, close her eyes, and a second later, easily pull them out, without a speck of dirt still on them. Tranquility and I were forced to use our mouths to forcefully pull the shafts out of the earth and then shake them to rid them of the remaining dirt. It was an unpleasant task, as most of the plants had less-than pleasant tastes.

“You do it with your mouth and see how it goes,” Tranquility retorted, having just spit out a grey flower. A grimace crossed her face, along with a hint of green.

“I’d rather not, though!” Cam replied cheerfully, dumping her load in the appropriate pit.

We continued in silence after that. I thankfully moved on to a sky-blue flower which tasted a LOT better, but Tranquility didn’t, her foliage being one of the more numerous types in the grove. I could see her face getting greener and greener, along with her anger growing. Lack of sleep never did good things to her.

And then I felt it. A soft tugging in my heart caused me to freeze up, the bundle of flowers falling out of my mouth. My ears folded back. Why NOW?! I screamed mentally. Tranquility froze as well, and in that moment, I knew that we’d be doing this together.

“Guys?” Cam asked, a tinge of worry coloring her voice. “What’s wrong?”

With the few seconds I had left, I turned to her. “Cam, I am so, so sorry,” I whispered. And then I heard it.

The beginnings of a song.

As far as songs went, I’d definitely heard more complex ones. This one seemed to have a fairly simple beat, with a fairly simple kick drum that sounded like something from an electronic trap mix. Then a staccato, whistle-like synth started in. It seemed as if we’d be singing the whole time, with that simple loop taking a backseat to showcase our voices.

I seriously wished I knew some of Tranquility’s swears.

And then I felt it, I was going to be singing first! Cam saw the panic flash across my face and tilted her head in confusion. Why shouldn’t I have been panicked? I had no idea how Cam would react to my terrible voice, and she was unpredictable! But it was too late. I took a deep breath, and began to sing.

“Yesterday, we were battered,

Lost and alone, every second sadder,

And then a savior found us, by the riverbank

For our health, we have her to thank.”

Cam let out an embarrassed giggle at that. I was more focused on how I sounded. There were less than six pitches in that sequence, and I managed to hit a stunning zero of them. I was worse than usual, and it was mortifying. Luckily, Tranquility took the melody from me at that point.

“Now today, we are with her

A tiny pup, with golden fur,

She’s rather callous, in anything she’ll say.

She’s proven that throughout the day.”

Cam snorted and let out a giggle of amusement at that. “Nailed it,” she added, grinning. I walked over to Tranquility, as the magic of music dictated that we were going to duet next, much to my disappointment. My harmony can be described as… atrocious.

“We’re moving out, she’s coming with

Leaving soon, packing forthwith

Cam’s helping, even with her quirks,

If only packing up wasn’t so much work!”

Bursting out into laughter, Cam fell over, grinning. Unable to tell whether it was the song or how badly I mangled that section of the song that was making her laugh, a furious blush spread across my face. Tranquility and I broke into a series of movements as we hit the chorus of the song.

“Pick the plants, ignore the taste

Rid them of dirt, do it with haste!

Drop them in pits so they flash dry

If the flavor don’t make you die!

Pick the plants, ignore the taste

Rid them of dirt, do it with haste!

Drop them in pits so they flash dry

If the flavor don’t make you die!”

Cam’s laughter increased to the point where she was rolling on the floor, crushing a few plants in the process. The song (thankfully) ended there, with my face bright red and Tranquility smiling softly. “That was one of the more… lighthearted songs I’ve sung,” she remarked, nuzzling me. I smiled in spite of the embarrassment I felt at the moment.

“Wow…” Cam gasped, slowly regaining control of her body as her laughter subsided. “That was hilarious… and rather insightful. But the real question is,” she said, getting to her paws, “what was that?” She pointed at me, giggling again. “That was impressively bad!”

“I’m tone-deaf,” I grumbled.

“A tone-deaf pony?!” Cam screeched, her eyes going wide. “That’s actually kinda cool,” she admitted.

“Cool?” I questioned. Never before had I heard that term used to describe my condition.

“Yeah,” Cam said, smiling. “I’ve never heard of a tone-deaf pony before. It’s gotta be pretty rare.” She then giggled again. “Yes sir, you’re one of a kind,” she sang, smiling as if that was incredibly funny.

“What’s that from?” I asked.

“One of the author’s favorite musical artists!” Cam replied, giggling. Before we had a chance to respond to that cryptic statement, she went back to uprooting the plants in the grove. “Now get back to work!”

In total, it took another three hours for us to pick and sort the grove. During that time, there were no more songs, but I did encounter a variety of different tastes, from bitter to sour to incredibly spicy. The combination would have probably made me sick if I had, but the last plant we picked was conveniently a mint patch, and Cam said we could eat some of it, and that helped a lot. Eventually, Tranquility and I sat down next to each other as Cam moved her way over to one of the pits. She tied a piece of crude twine around the plants inside, bundling them together, but leaving a length string hanging outside the pit.

“What are you doing?” I asked as she moved over to the small tunnel next to the pits.

“Flash-drying,” Cam said, pulling a small vial out of her tail and transferring it to her paw.

“How?” Tranquility asked, genuinely curious.

“One of my favorite concoctions,” Cam said cheerfully, pulling the stopper on the vial she held. It lit up like a firework, but before it could burn her, Cam dropped it in the tunnel. “Thermite!” A roar sounded from underneath the pit, and sparks began to fly from the tunnel. A blast of heat hit the plants, making the moisture in them evaporate. I also saw the very floor underneath them begin to sag. Just when I was sure it would break, the roaring and sparks stopped. Cam moved in and snatched the length of string, dragging the bundle out of the pit and over to her box. She then stuffed it inside, humming.

“What in Celestia’s name was that?” Tranquility gasped, ears folded back.

“Thermite is a little mixture I found out about, and I’m glad I did,” Cam explained. “Just get some iron oxide- that’s rust- and some aluminum powder, mix it together, and boom! Thermite. It burns at over four thousand degrees fahrenheit and is absolutely perfect for this! It also has the side effect of being completely awesome.” With that, she moved on to the next pit, pulling out another vial and completely ignoring how Tranquility had begun to shake. I pulled her into a hug, even as Cam set the next pit off.

Cam saw us after the third pit. She dragged the bundle of plants out of the pit and sighed. “Okay, what is the big deal with you and fire?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I…” Tranquility whispered, her voice trailing off.

“It’s just fire,” Cam said. “Cooks stuff, provides warmth, burns stuff…” She sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is,” she whispered, her shaking redoubling. I hugged her tighter and nuzzled her head, worried.

“Why?” Cam probed.

“I don’t… I can’t...” Tranquility stammered, turning around and pressing against me, her eyes shut tightly.

“Cam, stop-” I began.

“Do I need to read your mind?” Cam asked, cutting me off.

“What?” I said.

“Y’know, see your thoughts, memories, all that jazz,” she explained, rolling her eyes. “Do I need to do that to find out?”

“You can do that?” Tranquility murmured.

“In theory,” she answered. “Haven’t actually tried it.” And just like that, she pranced off to the fourth pit, ending the conversation. Tranquility watched her pull another vial out and shuddered. I wrapped her in my wings and placed my hooves over her ears, smiling encouragingly. She nodded and closed her eyes, tucking her head below mine.

Each time the thermite went off, I could feel her shudder.

Eventually, Cam finished up, having gone through all the pits. Tranquility was a mess, terrified and trembling. I was trying my best to comfort her. I wondered what had her like this, but I kept it to myself. Now wasn’t the time to ask.

Cam seemed to realize that she’d gone too far as well. She closed up her box and walked over to us, her perpetual smile nowhere to be seen. A sigh forced its way out of her mouth. “Sorry…” she murmured. Tranquility didn’t respond. Instead of trying to apologize more, Cam wriggled between us and hugged her. I froze up as a tension spread through the air, unsure of what to do.

“What are you doing?” Tranquility asked quietly, her voice betraying no emotion. She’d only used that voice a few times, and I hadn’t heard it in years. It was the voice that she used when she was on an emotional teeter-totter, and the response of the pony that the voice was directed at dictated which way she would fall.

“Is snuggle time now,” Cam said. “You need snuggles.” She then buried her head in Tranquility’s chest.

Tranquility’s mouth stretched into a small grin at that. I smiled as well, as I could feel the the building strain fade at those words. Cam giggled before hopping out from in between us. “I think we can stay here tonight,” she said. “But the question is how we’re gonna stay warm. Can I light the fire or no?”

Once again, Tranquility shuddered. “No…” she murmured. “I’m sorry…”

“What to do then…” Cam muttered. “It’s fine, by the way. But I do want to know why.”

“I can’t tell you,” Tranquility refused. “It’s not a story for foal- pups, sorry, to hear. And I haven’t even told Fall…” I hugged her a little tighter. Whatever happened must’ve been bad…

“I’ve seen worse things than you probably have,” Cam replied. “Hit me with it.”

“No, you haven’t,” Tranquility hissed, starting to shake again. Cam winced and walked back over to her box, poking her head inside.

“You doused the fire last night, didn’t you?” I asked.

“No, I took the flames out of the equation,” Cam said. “It was still burning and giving off heat, just no flames to set other things on fire. I learned that lesson the hard way.”

“And yet you still casually light thermite,” Tranquility remarked.

“I spent half a year perfecting that technique, it’s safe,” Cam retorted. “Now what are we gonna do for heat? What you two did last night?” We both blushed.

“Blankets?” I suggested.

“Let me know where I can find cloth in the middle of the forest and I’ll get back to you on that,” Cam snarked. “And that was a serious question. Are we all gonna have to sleep together?” A second later, her face flushed red. “That came out so wrong.”

“Where did you get your tent?” Tranquility inquired.

“Stole it,” Cam replied casually. She noticed our horrified looks. “What? The ponies packed up and left and forgot it! It was easy pickings!”

“The word ‘stole’ implies something else,” Tranquility said. “‘Scavenged’ would have been more appropriate.”

“And just like that, my interest in the conversation is gone,” Cam said, closing her eyes and grinning.

“Couldn’t you just bundle yourself up in the tent fabric?” I asked. “Like a burrito.”

“SUSHI ROLL!” Cam yelled, her eyes going wide. “Yes! That would work! And you two will cuddle?”

“We will mutually sacrifice our dignity in favor of using our naturally generated body heat to stay at a comfortable temperature, yes,” Tranquility deadpanned, causing me to snort with laughter. “Anything but the fire.”

“Kay,” Cam responded, giggling.

We idly chatted for another half-hour, bantering. Tranquility (sadly) climbed out of my arms and sat across from me. Our conversation was mere fluff, nothing significant, more a distraction from our situation. Over the course of it, Tranquility’s wariness and shaking faded, much to my relief.

“Why are you getting that now?” I asked.

“Lightfall is in just a few minutes,” Cam replied, pulling the supports out of the tent and tossing them back into the crate. I assumed that ‘lightfall’ meant ‘sunset.’

“But we’ve only been awake for a few hours!” I exclaimed.

“And you slept for ages,” Cam said. “Well past noon. Well, you did, at least. Tranquility was off-and-on for the whole time.” She giggled. “It was quite amusing. And insightful.”

“How so?” Tranquility inquired.

“FedEx,” Cam replied, smirking and confusing me.

“I don’t know what that means,” Tranquility said.

“And that’s the way it should be!” Cam yelled happily. She went back to pulling supports out of the tent and tossing them into the box.

“What’s a FedEx?” I murmured, canting my head slightly to the side in confusion. Tranquility sighed and shook her head.

“I think it’s best not to question it,” she said.

True to Cam’s words, the sun began to set just a minute later. As soon as it did, she tossed us another bundle of leaves, the same thing we’d eaten in the morning, and brought out some dried meat for herself. We ate in silence as the stars came out above our head. Some of the glowing motes I’d seen the previous night flew in, flitted around for a few moments, then left.

“What are those?” I asked.

“Insects,” Cam replied, smiling. “They like the flowers that grew here. I expect they're a bit disappointed they’re gone now.” She went back to eating, smiling softly as a bright blue one landed on her ear.

We finished our dinner in a few more minutes. I leaned against Tranquility and smiled. She leaned her head back against mine. Cam grinned again. “FEDEX!” she yelled. I opened my mouth to answer, but was cut off abruptly.

At that instant, a sense of wrongness pervaded the world. I felt the strange sensation of my entire body being slightly stretched towards one place, as well as gravity shifting slightly towards that place, dragging me a few scant millimeters towards the strange distortion. I let out a soft cry of pain as the stretching reached its peak and aggravated my abused head. A black seam appeared in the air, and a bipedal silhouette stepped through it. The rift closed, and just like that, everything returned to normal.

Cam’s perpetual smile vanished in an instant, replaced with something similar to horror. She shot to her paws and raced to get in front of us, putting herself between us and the strange, dark figure.

The sound of her paws softly hitting the forest floor must’ve been picked up by the creature, because its head whipped around towards us. Moonlight flashed off the creature’s eyes, lending a glint of silver to its black form. It slowly began to walk towards us. Cam didn’t react, but Tranquility and I started to shake. It paused on the edge of the grove. And then it began to speak.

“Well…” it grunted in a voice even deeper than Dawson’s. “This is quite interesting.” My voice seized in my throat, and I pressed into Tranquility even more.

“Hello,” Cam said, her tone neutral. There was no trace of humor or happiness in that word, a stark difference from what she normally was like. If anything, this scared me even more.

“What do we have here?” the creature said, smiling and narrowing its eyes, revealing sharp teeth. It jumped down from the edge of the grove and began to walk towards us, reaching behind itself and pulling something out of a sheath with a metallic rasp. I assumed it was a weapon. “A pup… and two natives… sentient, by the look of them.” It paused, then quickly swung what was in its grasp at Cam, the tip of it stopping a few inches from her chin. “Why are you with them?” it asked softly.

Cam didn’t respond.

“Why?” it inquired again.

Cam didn’t move.

“You know the rules, pup,” it spat. My heart began to pound even faster.

Once again, Cam did nothing.

The creature pulled the sword back away from Cam and raised it well over its head. “I’m sorry, but I have to enforce them.” The moonlight reflected off the flat of a blade, and my heart stopped. Before Tranquility or I could do anything, the creature swung the sword at me, aiming for my neck.

Before I could scream, Cam reared up on her hind paws and stuck one of her forepaws out, one of the toes folded down. A curved dome of golden fire blossomed out from her paw, spreading in front of the three of us. Once it formed fully, it changed to look more like water, with eddies and currents running through it. I saw the weapon clearly for the first time, a thin sword, made of some blue metal. Before I could fully comprehend that, the sword smashed into the shield, rebounding with a loud crash and causing me to cry out. The creature tried again, swinging the sword harder. The tip lodged in the shield, almost poking through. Cam twitched her paw, and golden lightning crawled up the sword, but before it could reach the creature, it dropped the blade, which launched back out of the shield. The creature caught it and stumbled back. My mind caught up to my eyes and my jaw dropped in shock. What…

Cam took a deep breath in and let it out. She stuck her other paw out in front of her and formed the shape of the letter L with both of them. Her eyes drifted shut, and I let out a gasp. Glowing gold lines started to spread down her arms, crawling along like vines and creating pulsing, plant-like patterns along her golden fur. These spread to the rest of her body, crawling down her chest and her legs, up her shoulders and neck. They spread across her head, and when they reached her face, they created a symmetrical, spiraling pattern that surrounded her eyes and snaked down her snout. When she opened her eyes, they were golden-white with power. She slowly turned one of her paws upside down. When it fully inverted, the two Ls formed a box of sorts, and in the center, a symbol burst into existence, glowing with a blinding light.

The glow threw the rest of the clearing into stark relief, including the creature. It appeared to be a bipedal wolf, mottled grey in color. It grasped the sword in one of its paws and held the other paw out to shield its silver eyes. It was wrapped in a torn, brown cloak, which covered its ears and muzzle, giving it the appearance of a ghoul or ghost of some sort.

“I’m sorry,” Cam said, a small smile playing at her lips. “What rules?”

“You’re a…” the wolf stammered.

“Yes,” Cam said, her smile vanishing.

“Why?” it asked.

“Because I don’t like destiny,” Cam replied, her eyes narrowing and the symbol blazing a little brighter.

“The Den will hear about this,” the wolf snarled, squinting. “The Alpha will know.”

“The Den couldn’t care less about me if they tried,” Cam retorted. “And say hi to Hawky for me, if the old geezer’s still alive. Tell him Cam sent you.”

“You dare…” the wolf hissed. “You dare insult the Alpha?!”

“I dare,” Cam replied, steel in her voice.

“You… may the void erase you,” the wolf whispered.

“Right back at you,” Cam replied. The wolf snorted and stepped away from us. He drew his paw through the air, creating another seam that induced the sense of stretching and wrongness. Only when the seam had closed did Cam extinguish the strange, golden symbol and light, plunging the grove into darkness as my eyes worked to adjust to the sudden change of light.

“Cam?” Tranquility whispered. “What in feirote was that?”

The only response she received was the sound of soft sniffles, and then Cam began to cry.

Author's Note

CAM IS SCARY! WOLF MAN IS SCARY! EVERYONE IS SCARY! I'm gon hide nao.
So yeah, have some confusion! I SO wish I could draw, this would be so cool to see in color. This is a segway into some setup for the story.
I have to say this. THERMITE IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! DO NOT USE IT WITHOUT APPROPRIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS! IN FACT, PLEASE DON'T USE IT AT ALL!
There. I am not responsible if you hurt yourselves.
Yes, I'm aware the song is sub-par.
So, no thestral language guide. Instead, I took some photos of the hand symbols Cam used (I hope these aren't gang signs...) {EDIT: Pictures aren't working...}
The Shield:

The Glowing Lines:

The Symbol:

I'll try to sketch the symbol when I have a chance.
So yeah! Let me know if there are any typos!
~Pyrepinna